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We analyze the interface-interface interactions of a surfactant-covered double emulsion using the lattice Boltzmann method and study the interaction of the inner and outer interfaces and the local surfactant distribution under a uniaxial extensional flow. First, the capillary effects are analyzed. Upon surfactant application, the outer droplet deformation increases and the inner droplet deformation decreases. The concentrated surfactants on the outer interface increase deformation, and the inner droplet is affected by the inner flow. At a fixed P\'eclet number (Pe), the surfactant concentration at the outer interface increases with an increase in capillary number (Ca); however, such a tendency is difficult to identify at the inner interface. Next, the Pe effects are analyzed. With an increase in Pe, the deformation of the inner droplet decreases significantly. The local distribution of the surfactant considerably affects the double emulsion stabilization, which is analyzed in terms of internal flow. The interfacial tension gradient induced by the surfactant generates vortices internally, which is verified by applying the surfactant to each interface independently. The radius ratio affects droplet deformation and surfactant transport. The compression of the inner flow region increases the viscous force and decreases the interface velocity. Therefore, with an increase in radius ratio, the deformation increases, and the surfactant transport becomes slow.

Technologies that use optical force to actively control particles in microchannels are a significant area of research interest in various fields. An optical force is generated by the momentum change caused by the refraction and reflection of light, which changes the particle surface as a function of the angle of incidence of light and which in turn feeds back and modifies the force on the particle. Simulating this phenomenon is a complex task. The deformation of a particle, the interaction between the surrounding fluid and the particle, and the reflection and refraction of light should be analyzed simultaneously. Herein, a deformable particle in a microchannel subjected to optical interactions is simulated using the three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann immersed-boundary method. The laser from the optical source is analyzed by dividing it into individual rays. To calculate the optical forces exerted on the particle, the intensity, momentum, and ray direction are calculated. The optical-separator problem with one optical source is analyzed by measuring the distance traveled because of the optical force. The optical-stretcher problem with two optical sources is then studied by analyzing the relation between the intensity of the optical source and particle deformation. This simulation will help the design of sorting and measuring by optical force.

This paper analyzed colloidal characteristics of a bimodal distribution emulsion system using bulk rheological and numerical approaches. The experiment measured simple shear to confirm emulsion shear thinning and viscosity tendencies. Numerical models employed the multi-component lattice Boltzmann method to express interfacial tension, surfactant movement, and viscosity of liquid phases. Numerical models were helpful to implement interactions between two or more varied-sized liquid droplets, since they express droplet deformation and interaction forces and can also provide rheological analysis, whereas shear flow experiments cannot. In monodisperse systems (i.e., uniform droplet size), larger droplets decrease emulsion relative viscosity. However, mixture viscosity for bimodal systems (small droplets mixed with large droplets) was lower than that for the monodisperse system. The reduced viscosity was related to increased droplet deformability and decreased shear stress at the droplet surface.

We investigated hydrodynamic phenomena inside several passive microfluidic mixers using a Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based on particle mesoscopic kinetic equations. Mixing processes were simulated in a Slanted grooved micro-mixer (SGM), a Staggered herringbone grooved micro-mixer (SHM), and a Bi-layered staggered herringbone grooved micro-mixer (BSHM). Then, the effects of six geometric mixer parameters (i.e., groove height to channel height ratio, groove width to groove pitch length ratio, groove pitch to groove height ratio, groove intersection angle, herringbone groove asymmetric ratio and bi-layered groove asymmetric ratio) on mixing were investigated using computed cross-flow velocity and helicity density distributions in the flow cross-section. We demonstrated that helicity density provides sufficient information to analyze micro helical motion within a micro-mixer, allowing for micro-mixer design optimization.

In this study, we analyzed the rheological characteristics of double emulsions by using a three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann model. Numerical simulations indicate that interactions between multiple interfaces play a vital role in determining the shear stress on interfaces and affect deformations, which influence the relative viscosity of double emulsions. The large shear stress induced by droplets in contact increases the relative viscosity for high volume fractions. The double emulsions also show shear-thinning behavior, which corresponds with the Carreau model. The interfacial interference between the core and the deforming shell cause the relative viscosity to increase with increasing core-droplet radius. Finally, we investigated the dependence of the double-emulsion viscosity on the core-droplet viscosity. At high shear rates, the relative viscosity increases with increasing core-droplet viscosity. However, the trend is opposite at low shear rates, which results from the high inward flow (Marangoni flow) at low core-droplet viscosity.

We simulate an emulsion system under simple shear rates to analyze its rheological characteristics using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). We calculate the relative viscosity of an emulsion under a simple shear flow along with changes in temperature, shear rate, and surfactant concentration. The relative viscosity of emulsions decreased with an increase in temperature. We observed the shear-thinning phenomena, which is responsible for the inverse proportion between the shear rate and viscosity. An increase in the interfacial tension caused a decrease in the relative viscosity of the decane-in-water emulsion because the increased deformation caused by the decreased interfacial tension significantly influenced the wall shear stress. § 이 논문은 대한기계학회 2014년도 추계학술대회(2014. 11. 11.-14., 김대중컨벤션센터) 발표논문임. † Corresponding Author, joonlee@yonsei.ac.kr C 2015 The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers

An emulsion system was simulated under simple shear rates to analyse its rheological characteristics using the lattice Boltzmann method. The relative viscosity of an emulsion under a simple shear flow along with changes in temperature, shear rate, surfactant concentration and droplet size was calculated. The relative viscosity of emulsions decreased with increase in temperature. The shear thinning phenomena explaining the inverse proportion between shear rate and viscosity were observed. An increase in the surfactant concentration caused an increase in the relative viscosity for a decane-in-water emulsion, because the increased deformation caused by the decreased interfacial tension significantly influenced the wall shear stress. An increase in droplet size caused a decrease in the relative viscosity and smaller shear thinning behaviour because of decreased aggregational and repulsive forces within the emulsion system.

The interaction between two deformable droplets consists of unique dynamic characteristics that are not present during the interaction of solid bodies. A thin film of surrounding fluid is entrapped between the droplets and then drains out under the influence of an external force before the droplets can adhere or coalesce. The drainage process during the coalescence of two similar droplets has received significant research interest due to the presence of dynamical interactions between the droplets. Surprisingly, the film drainage process between two partial engulfing immiscible droplets has not been studied yet. Using a numerical study, we investigate the film drainage between two partial engulfing immiscible droplets. We vary the interfacial tensions between the droplets and surrounding fluid in wide ranges to observe the film drainage time between the droplets. Based on our simulations, we identified three regimes of fast, intermediate and delayed drainage. We found that the film drainage of two immiscible droplets exhibits additional flow into or out of the film, which does not exist in the film drainage of identical droplets. This additional flow can either increase or decrease the rate of film drainage between the droplets, depending on the interfacial tension of droplets with the surrounding fluid and the interfacial tension of the two immiscible droplets.

To analyze the jamming and unjamming transition of oil-in-water emulsions under continuous temperature change, we simulated an emulsion system whose critical volume fraction was 0.3, which was validated with experimental results under oscillatory shear stress. In addition, we calculated the elastic modulus using the phase lag between strain and stress. Through heating and cooling, the emulsion experienced unjamming and jamming. A phenomenon—which is when the elastic modulus does not reach the expected value at the isothermal system—occurred when the emulsion system was cooled. We determined that this phenomenon was caused by the frequency being faster than the relaxation of the deformed droplets. We justified the relation between the frequency and relaxation by simulating the frequency dependency of the difference between the elastic modulus when cooled and the expected value at the same temperature.

In this study, we simulated deformation and surfactant distribution on the interface of a surfactant-covered droplet using optical tweezers as an external source. Two optical forces attracted a single droplet from the center to both sides. This resulted in an elliptical shape deformation. The droplet deformation was characterized as the change of the magnitudes of surface tension and optical force. In this process, a non-linear relationship among deformation, surface tension, and optical forces was observed. The change in the local surfactant concentration resulting from the application of optical forces was also analyzed and compared with the concentration of surfactants subjected to an extensional flow. Under the optical force influence, the surfactant molecules were concentrated at the droplet equator, which is totally opposite to the surfactants behavior under extensional flow, where the molecules were concentrated at the poles. Lastly, the quasi-equilibrium surfactant distribution was obtained by combining the effects of the optical forces with the extensional flow. All simulations were executed by the lattice Boltzmann method which is a powerful tool for solving micro-scale problems.

An emulsion system was simulated under simple shear rates to analyze its rheological characteristics using a hierarchical multi-scale approach. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to describe the interface of droplets in an emulsion. The equations derived from the MD simulation relative to interfacial tension, temperature, and surfactant concentration were applied as input parameters within lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) calculations. In the LBM simulation, we calculated the relative viscosity of an emulsion under a simple shear rate along with changes in temperature, shear rate, and surfactant concentration. The equations from the MD simulation showed that the interfacial tension of the droplets tended to decrease with an increase in temperature and surfactant concentration. The relative viscosity from the LBM simulation decreased with an increase in temperature. The shear thinning phenomena explaining the inverse proportion between shear rate and viscosity were observed. An increase in the surfactant concentration caused an increase in the relative viscosity for a decane-in-water emulsion, because the increased deformation caused by the decreased interfacial tension significantly influenced the wall shear stress.